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<p> The early childhood administrator is tasked with overseeing all operations within the early childhood program. Operational functions include functions traditionally associated with education including the design and implementation of curriculum, creating and maintaining the learning environment, and ensuring the health and safety of children enrolled in the program. The administrator of the early childhood program is also tasked with other functions including human resource functions, budgeting, as well as income and cost management. Additionally, the administrator should be an advocate within public policy concerning early childhood education. Research has acknowledged the functions associated with the early childhood administrator role. In 1992, Paula Jorde-Bloom named the early childhood administrator as the &ldquo;Gatekeeper of Quality&rdquo;. Since then, research has supported that establishing and maintaining quality is yet another responsibility of the early childhood administrator. The current study examined the role of the administrator, particularly the preparation that the administrator receives, in an effort to determine the impact that the administrator has on the quality of the program. A sample (n = 224) was pulled from early childhood administrators in Mississippi. The preparation received by these administrators, including formal education and additional training, was measured and regression analysis with Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale Revised (ECERS-R) scores measuring quality of the early childhood program regressed with an aggregated early childhood administration preparation variable to determine if administration preparation could predict overall quality within the early childhood program. As the literature indicated that fiscal management practices also fall under the scope of responsibilities of the administrator, fiscal management preparation was isolated and regression analysis with ECERS-R scores was conducted to determine if fiscal management preparation could predict overall quality within the early childhood program as well. The study found that administration preparation was a significant predictor of quality. However, preparation specific to fiscal management knowledge was not found to be a predictor of overall quality. Practical implications and suggestions for future research are addressed.</p>

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<p> The decision regarding when to send their child to school can be difficult one for parents. Much attention has been paid to the relationship between age of entry into kindergarten and academic achievement. However, a child&rsquo;s ability to maintain the behavioral standards of a classroom is an equally important aspect of readiness for school. In this study, a secondary analysis of 9,474 kindergarten students examined the relationship between the age at which a child enters kindergarten and teacher reports of externalizing behavior problems. Data on other child factors including child sex, attendance in a preschool program, socioeconomic status, race, and family structure were also obtained in the fall of the kindergarten year. There was a significant main effect of child age on externalizing behaviors, even after controlling for family structure and socioeconomic status (SES). In addition, there were significant relationships between race and externalizing behavior, child sex and externalizing behavior, and preschool attendance and externalizing behavior, even after controlling for family structure, and SES.</p>

<p> I selected 10 typically developing preschool students between the ages of 2 and 3 years from a preschool facility. I tested their listener and speaker responses to common stimuli to determine whether they demonstrated differences in their listener and speaker repertoires. I selected the 6 children with the largest discrepancy in their listener and speaker repertoires to participate in Naming probe sessions to measure for the presence of Naming (a capability which allows an individual to acquire language incidentally). None of the participants had the full Naming capability at the onset of the study. A delayed multiple probe design across participants was implemented to test for the emergence of speaker responses for stimuli the participants could only respond to as a listener prior to the acquisition of Naming. Multiple exemplar instruction (MEI) across speaker and listener responses was implemented to induce Naming in these participants. Following the acquisition of Naming the experimenter re-tested listener and speaker responses, finding that the participants could respond as a speaker to the stimuli they previously could only respond to as a listener, thereby demonstrating the transformation of stimulus function from listener to speaker responses. Following the acquisition of Naming, 5 of the 6 participants acquired over 50% of untaught responses with the exception of 1 participant who acquired 30% of untaught responses following the acquisition of Naming.</p>

<p> The purpose of this correlational study was to determine whether a relationship existed between the physical and social elements of process quality within a preschool&rsquo;s language and early literacy environment and children&rsquo;s pre-reading and writing performance in the beginning of kindergarten in a rural school district. The study examined school readiness, quality preschool experiences, and early literacy development with theoretical concepts by Vygotsky providing the foundation for children&rsquo;s development. Four Keystone STAR preschools and ninety-seven kindergarten children participated in the study. Preschool observation data were collected utilizing the <i>Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale &ndash; Revised Edition (ECERS-R)</i> (Harms, Clifford, &amp; Cryer, 1998) and the <i>Early Language &amp; Literacy Classroom Observation (ELLCO) Pre-K </i>(Smith, Brady, &amp; Anastasopoulos, 2008). Assessment data pertaining to children&rsquo;s pre-reading and writing performance in the beginning of kindergarten were collected from the <i> Center for Improving the Readiness of Children for Learning and Education (CIRCLE)</i> (Landry, Assel, Williams, Zucker, Swank, &amp; Gunnewig, 2014), <i>Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) Next</i> (Good, Kaminski, Cummings et al., 2011), Concepts About Print tasks, and District Writing Samples scored using the <i>Conventions of Writing Developmental Scale</i> (Feldgus &amp; Cardonick, 1999). Demographic data were also collected about kindergarten participants to provide background information used for statistical analyses. Qualitative data were collected in the form of preschool observation notes and information reported on a <i> Response Survey for Participating Preschools.</i> Preschool observation data from the ECERS-R and ELLCO Pre-K revealed strengths and weaknesses in rating scores for elements of process quality related to language and literacy. Results of data analyses showed a significant relationship between the physical elements of process quality from the ELLCO Pre-K and children&rsquo;s performance on the <i>DIBELS Next.</i> Other factors that were found to have significant relationships included gender (female) with performance on the <i> CIRCLE</i> Rapid Letter Naming, gender (female) with performance on the <i>DIBELS Next,</i> and entry age to kindergarten with results from the <i>CIRCLE</i> PA Composite score. This study found the quality of preschool environments, among other factors, to contribute to children&rsquo;s early literacy development.</p>

This dissertation investigates kindergarten teachers' beliefs and their teaching practices in science education through a qualitative case study. This study addresses these topics by exploring two key issues: First, it illustrates how kindergarten teachers think about teaching science to the students. Second, this study demonstrates how the teachers’ beliefs about teaching science affect the teaching practices in the classroom. The qualitative data was obtained through formal and informal interviews with four kindergarten teachers from a public elementary school. In addition, observation of the science lessons were also conducted. The teachers' beliefs about science education were classified based on Calderhead's (1996) categories about teachers' beliefs: 1) beliefs about students in science classes, 2) beliefs about teaching science classes, 3) beliefs about science as a subject, 4) beliefs about learning to teach science, and 5) beliefs about teachers’ roles in science classes. Based on the categories of teachers' beliefs, this study found a relationship between teachers' beliefs and how they teach science. In particular, the participant teachers preferred hands-on science activities and focused on children's interest in science. Their personal learning history and past schooling experiences appeared to inform their beliefs. However, this research also shows that some of the teachers' beliefs did not match the teaching practices in science lessons. As evidence, contrary to their beliefs, some of the participant teachers did not include as many hands-on activities because of the limited time allowed for science and the characteristics of the topics in science classes. Finally, the findings suggest there are differences between experienced and inexperienced teachers' in the beliefs and practices. For instance, experienced teachers believed that they were able to effectively manage the science classes, whereas inexperienced teachers showed concerns regarding managing the science class. Moreover, the experienced teachers actually demonstrated their expertise in successfully managing the class, while the inexperienced teachers experienced difficulty. Summary of findings, limitation, implications, and future research are discussed. / text